1 March

It's Beer Day in Iceland

So we are drinking a...

Reality Check

Today is Beer Day if you’re Icelandic, and a day worth celebrating even if you’re not. On this day in 1989, Icelanders were finally allowed to drink beer, after almost 75 years of Prohibition, probably the longest-standing ban on alcoholic drinks outside the Muslim world.

Amazingly for anyone who has ever visited Reykjavik on a Saturday night, this tiny island nation voted for a ban on all alcoholic drinks way back in 1908, which took effect in 1915.

Iceland had partially repealed Prohibition in 1933 (as had the USA), primarily because Spain refused to buy Icelandic fish unless Icelanders bought their wines. But beer remained banned for almost three generations after that, and even today Icelanders who want to drink at home have to buy their booze from one of the country's state-owned liquor stores. If you love beer, we're sure you'll adore the Reality Check.

St David's Day

Today we're celebrating the patron saint of Wales, so it's all going to be about Welsh Rarebit, leek soup, Welsh male choirs, and Penderyn single malt.

Saint David's Day commemorates the death of the Patron Saint of Wales, which was thought to have been around 1st March in 588AD (1,423 years ago!) Saint David founded a Celtic monastic community at Glyn Rhosin (The Vale of Roses) which is now the site of St David's Cathedral - right on the beautiful west coast of Wales.

All this Welsh patriotism made us realise that there really weren't many Welsh-themed cocktails out there (daffodils and leeks aren't famously good ingredients). So, we decided that the Rose-Hyp Martini would be a great drink to dedicate to the patron saint, and the work he did at The Vale of Roses. Mix one today and enjoy this dry, aromatic cocktail.